


An Important Question

by afteriwake



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Already Dating, Amused Natasha Romanov, Developing Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Established Relationship, F/M, Flirting, Gentle Kissing, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Questions, Relationship Discussions, Sitting on Laps, Stark Tower, Steve Rogers Is Spacing Out, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 17:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22347346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Steve has a question that's embarrassing to ask but has been bothering him for a while, so when he spaces while thinking about it, he finally asks Natasha whether or not they're dating.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 4
Kudos: 123
Collections: Sherlolly Secret Santa: 2019





	An Important Question

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mychakk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mychakk/gifts).



> This is the mod gift for **mychakk** for Sherlolly Secret Santa 2019. They mentioned they liked Steve/Natasha and clueless dating, and this is what I came up with.

“Rogers? Rogers? Steve?” There was a snapping of fingers in front of his face and he started at that, turning and looking at his partner. Natasha leaned back in her chair, studying him. “Something on your mind?”

He hesitated a moment, not wanting to sound like an idiot, but he had to know. There were all sorts of signs that he and Nat were...closer than close. Closer than close friends, at least. Closer like...dating. But he couldn’t remember ever having asked her out, or her asking him out, and it was driving him nuts. And now they were living in the same space in Stark Tower and he had to know. “Are we dating?”

This time she was the surprised one, or at least Nat looked as surprised as a surprised Nat looked: her eyes widened just slightly and her lips formed a damn near perfect (and perfectly kissable, if he wanted to admit it) O shape. “I thought you knew,” she said slowly.

“That you don’t date the people you work with?” he asked, his tone dejected.

“That our anniversary is the day before your birthday.”

“So we _are_ dating?” he asked. He leaned back in his chair, turning to face her. “And we have an anniversary?”

“You really had no clue?” she countered.

“I really had no clue.” He shook his head. “How did we start dating? I never--” Then the memory hit him. “Running away.”

A smile started to curve on her lips. “Now you remember. You didn’t want anyone, especially Stark, making a big fuss on your birthday. So you asked me where you should go and we went to Miami. And there was one bed in the room and you, being the gentlemen you are, said you would sleep on the floor, and I said that was stupid and so we shared the bed and you kissed me and said thanks and that was our first kiss, aside from the one when we were on the run trying to figure out the information on the drive.”

“So you consider our first real kiss to be the agreement we were dating?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. It had been a good kiss, but it hadn’t sparked more in him than...well, a kiss between friends. Maybe if something _more_ had happened in Miami it might be different, but aside from waking up wrapped all up together, nothing else had happened. And nothing had happened since they got back to New York, either. “Then why haven’t we kissed again yet?”

“I just thought you weren’t really a PDA guy,” she said with a shrug. She moved closer to him, slowly closing the gap between their chairs. She didn’t seem bored by the conversation, just...not all that surprised anymore. “But we eat out together, we spend time watching movies together, we just hang out...that’s enough. I mean, that’s all that dating is, really. We just don’t kiss or have sex.”

“Is it really, though?” he asked, looking at her intently. This was an important question and he wanted to make sure he got the truth from her. She almost always gave him the truth, and as she looked down he had the feeling this time he was going to get the absolute truth as well.

“It’s enough for me,” she said with another shrug. “Not enough for you?” She looked up at him and stared at him intently, and this time he had to look away.

“Well, you should be wooed,” he said, suddenly feeling as though he was the worst boyfriend of the century for not romancing her. Nat may be a tough woman on the outside, but she had certainly deserved better, and he had failed to deliver, confusion be damned. “I mean, you don’t seem the type who would normally be, but you deserve it. You deserve more than just time with me. You deserve...poetry, flowers, kissing. Everything that’s expected of a romantic relationship.”

She thought for a moment. “I’ll take art over poetry. Flowers die, but if you can come up with a good way to keep them alive, I’ll take it. And I certainly wouldn’t mind more kissing.”

“So...you deserve art, a garden, and kisses. Got it.” He looked up again and moved closer to her, and then reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear as she smiled. This wasn’t a guarded smile, or a smirk or anything like that. It was almost a little bashful, he realized. Maybe things would be okay even if it had been awkward for a bit. “You’re prettier when you smile like that, you know.”

“Like what?” she said.

“A genuine one, kind of bashful...it’s a good look on you. You look...content. Happy. Like you’re really happy and not putting up a front.”

“Yeah?” she asked, reaching forward to smooth out his button-down shirt before holding onto it lightly, looking at his pulse point for a moment before looking at him in the eyes. “Well, you’re the only man so far to put that kind of smile on my face. You should feel lucky.”

“I do.” She surprised him then by kissing him, a soft kiss on the lips, no pressure to make it hot and torrid. He let his hand cradle the back of her head gently, angling her mouth just slightly so their lips fit together better. When she opened up her mouth slightly to let out a happy sigh he pulled away, and she rested her forehead against his.

“You’re not a bad kisser,” she told him.

“Yeah? I guess not,” he said with a grin. “I could always use more practice.”

“I volunteer as tribute,” she murmured.

“I got that reference.” He closed the gap between them and kissed her again, deepening it slightly as he pulled her off the chair and onto his lap. She curled into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing into him. He grinned against her lips and wrapped his arms around her, enjoying the moment. Maybe he had sounded dumb asking if they were dating, but it had turned out well in the end after all.

Very well indeed.


End file.
